Why Jalen Hurts Will Be Just Fine Without A.J. Brown In Eagles Offense

The Jalen Hurts connection to A.J. Brown was something to behold.

Hurts was one of the game's best quarterbacks and Brown was the elite go-to receiver the franchise quarterback needed. When Harts targeted Brown, he completed 65.4% of his passes for 4,701 yards with 29 TD and 10 INT -- a passer rtaing of 108.2.

The Eagles were 46-13 in games Hurts and A.J. Brown, which isn't even counting a postseason run that included to NFC Championships and a Super Bowl title.

Brown went on the best four-year stretch for a wide receiver history. Hurts had a win percentage of .762 in games he started and combined for 138 touchdowns.

There's no denying how good Hurts was with Brown, and vise versa. With Brown out of the picture, Hurts will be just fine without Brown as well.

Hurts is still excellent at the deep ball

Brown played a massive role in Hurts becoming a deep-ball quarterback, but Hurts has been one of the game's elite passers on deep balls for years.

Hurts leads the NFL with 28 TD passes on throws of 25+ air yards since the start of the 2022 season, throwing 166 passes in that span (only Josh Allen has more). The Eagles clearly trust Hurts to throw the deep ball and to create explosive plays in the passing game.

Of quarterbacks that have attempted 50+ passes on balls that traveled 25+ air yards or more, Hurts is fourth in the league in completion rate (39.8%) -- behind only Sam Darnold (50.0%), Brock Purdy (45.3%), and Tua Tagovailoa (42.1%). Hurts is the only one of those four to thoe 100+ pass attempts that have traveled 25+ air yards.

Hurts has a 104.3 passer rating on passes that have traveled 25+ air yards. Even witha new offense, he'll still be trusted to air it out with Brown gone.

DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert are his most trusted pass catchers

For as good as Brown is, Hurts didn't have his most success throwing to Brown over the last four years. Those players would be Smith and Goedert.

When Hurts targeted Smith, he completed 71.1% of his passes for 22 TD to 8 INT. He averaged 9.0 yards per attempt and had a 108.8 passer rating -- which was slightly higher than Brown.

Goedert was Hurts' security blanket. Hurts completed 76.0% of his passes targeting Goedert for 19 TD and 4 INT. He had a 116.7 passer rating targeting Goedert, highest amongst any Eagles player with 50+ targets over the past four years.

Were those numbers helped with Brown being on the roster? Absolutely,

Hurts still was efficient throwing to Smith and Goedert, having 41 TD to 12 INT combined when targeting the duo. History shows Hurts can still be efficient when targeting both players.

Hurts is amazingly efficient on strength of Eagles offense

If the Eagles are building a passing offense on slants and crossing routes, then Hurts should have no problem remaining an efficient passer without Brown.

Over the last four seasons, Hurts has completed 245-of-307 attempts on designed slants and crossing routes -- an astonishing 79.8%. He's thrown 16 TD to 6 INT and compiled a 117.4 passer rating.

The Eagles offense has plenty of wide recievers that excel at slants and crossing routes. Smith is one of the best route runners in football and certainly will see his fair share of targets, while Makai Lemon was praised for his work in the slot at USC.

Dontayvion Wicks is also efficient going underneath and is set for a breakout with more targets and opportunities in an offense he's familiar with. He'll see a lot of crossing routes as well.

If the Eagles were going to target the middle of the field more and focus on Hurts getting the ball out quick, the Eagles quarterback should have a lot of success.

To add even more confidence in Hurts, he's completed 69.2% of his passes and has a 136.2 passer rating on post routes -- which also involves the middle of the field.

Hurts is going to be fine without Brown, even if the Eagles offense will be affected not having him as part of the equation anymore.

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